Tracing links between a promoter's generosity and a governor's acts

Photo coverage from the trial, sentencing, and appeal of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell in Richmond, Va. and the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

(Daily Press)

Dave Ress, dress@dailypress.com

For all the cringeworthy talk of crushes, conniptions and collapsing marriage, the key to the corruption trial of former Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, will be connecting dots — whether prosecutors can link gifts and loans from businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr. to the former first couple's efforts to win state help for the free-spending executive's business.

That key is in the more than 1,500 pages of evidence that federal prosecutors had filed by the end of the second week of the McDonnells' trial.

The documents center on four events and what Williams, the McDonnells, the McDonnells' staff and state government officials did before, during and after.

The events:

•A November 2010 pitch by Williams to Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Bill Hazel.

•A June 2011 speech by Maureen McDonnell at an investors' event organized by Williams' company, Star Scientific, that created a stir among penny stock speculators.

•An August 2011 Star Scientific product launch held at the governor's mansion.

Williams, a major donor to McDonnell's political campaign in 2009, began moving to get close to the couple before McDonnell took office, offering to buy Maureen McDonnell a gown for the her husband's inauguration. Then Gov.-elect McDonnell's lawyer quickly shot that idea down.

"Phil (Cox, McDonnell's campaign manager) asked that I call Johnny Williams and respectfully decline the offer for the dress," lawyer Jasen Eige wrote in an email. "He did want me to convey to Maureen that after the Governor-elect's term is up he wants still to fly her up to get a dress."

McDonnell took office in January 2010.

In October of that year, a month before Williams went to see Hazel to pitch the tobacco-derived diet supplement he claimed could cure thyroid conditions and a wide range of inflammatory ailments, the businessman gave McDonnell a free lift on his plane for a political event in California, trying out his spiel on the governor along the way.

Five days after the California trip, which an invoice in the trial evidence said cost just under $10,000, Williams' office emailed the governor an excited press release about clinical trials of Anatabloc to treat Alzheimer's. Two days after the note arrived, on Oct. 12, 2010, a member of McDonnell's staff forwarded the release to Hazel with the note, "Bill, the Governor would like you to review the attached."

The press release boosted Star's shares by a hefty 3.5 percent that day. But when Hazel eventually met Williams and heard his pitch for Anatabloc, he was unimpressed.

"I won't even put the stuff in my mouth," the blunt orthopedic surgeon testified last week, adding that he felt the claims Williams made for Anatabloc were unbelievable.

The McDonnells, however, remained committed.

Jefferson Hotel event

In February 2011, the McDonnells attended an event at the plush Jefferson Hotel in Richmond to promote Anatabloc.

That event got a lot more buzz in the penny stock world — Star's shares jumped 6 percent the day of the event, as word of the first couple's expected presence filtered out on penny stock message boards. It rose another 5 percent the day after that. A photo of the governor generated much comment.

In April 2011, Williams took Maureen McDonnell on a shopping spree in New York City, spending more than $19,000 on clothing and accessories.

And though defense attorneys have said the McDonnells' marriage was collapsing as Maureen McDonnell grew closer to Williams, prosecution evidence includes an "Executive Mansion Event Briefing Information" note for an April 29 dinner for the McDonnells, Williams and Williams' wife, Celeste.

"His wife originally had not planned to attend," the note says, but four days before the dinner a Williams assistant called to say his wife was coming, too.

Williams followed up on that get-together with a May 2 meeting with Maureen McDonnell.

At that time, he testified, she told him the McDonnells' finances were so stretched that bankruptcy was an option. She asked for a $50,000 loan, Williams testified, and mentioned that she needed to come up with $15,000 for the caterer for daughter Cailin's wedding a few weeks off.

Three days after that meeting, the governor's office forwarded to Hazel a glowing report headlined "Star Scientific Has Home Run Potential." The analysts' report was published by a "crowd-sourced" financial publishing group. "Dr. Hazel," the cover email said, "Please see attached from the Governor."

Three weeks later, on May 23, 2011, the governor's scheduler emailed Williams' assistant to say the McDonnells had decided to accept Williams' invitation to vacation at his mansion on Smith Mountain Lake.

That was the same day that Williams wrote a $15,000 check to the wedding caterer and a $50,000 check to Maureen McDonnell.

"Jonnie. Thanks so much for all your help with my family," the governor emailed on May 28.

"Your very generous gift to Cailin was most appreciated as well as the golf round tomorrow for the boys. Maureen is excited about the trip to fla to learn more about the products and to see Celeste."

The governor, his sons and son-in-law put $2,380 on Williams' tab at Goochland County's luxurious Kinloch Golf Club that next day.

And Maureen's speech at the Star Scientific investors' weekend event in Florida was a hit. When trading resumed on Monday, the stock jumped 4 percent.

Williams kept working the governor.

A way to lower health care costs

On June 16, 2011, Williams wrote with an offer to provide the state "a technology platform to lower healthcare costs," and attached a lengthy protocol for a clinical study of Anatabloc.

The McDonnells took their July vacation that year at Smith Mountain Lake, and Williams had one of his employees drive his Ferrari down so the governor could use it. McDonnell drove the car back to Richmond when the vacation ended, and promptly asked Hazel to meet with Williams.

An email to Hazel from "governor@bobmcdonnell.com" followed up to ask that one of his two deputies, Keith Hare or Matt Cobb, "attend a short briefing at the mansion ... with first lady on the Star Scientific anatablock (sic) trials planned in va at vcu and uva."

Cobb asked a colleague to cover for him.

"Um hum ... tic-tac man," she emailed back, adding in a follow up note: "On a more serious note, I am not planning to commit to anything but will just stick with we will do what we can to carry out the desires of the Governor and First Lady."

That turned out to be an Aug. 30, 2011, event at the governor's mansion to launch Anatabloc.

The governor's operations director originally sent a message to the first lady's chief of staff that the governor would not be able to attend the Anatabloc launch because of another commitment.

The first lady's aide responded, "The FL (First Lady) isn't going to be happy about it."

That prompted the operations director to check. When he did, he wrote back, "Governor wants to make it to the last part of this lunch, the last 30 minutes, says he can't be there the entire time."

"NO WAY this can go as written," Maureen McDonnell's chief of staff emailed Star's investor relations chief, the woman responsible for the messages the company sent to financial markets.

She agreed to rewrite the release, changing it to say, "A group of Richmond area physicians and healthcare providers are gathering at the Virginia Governor's mansion today to learn more about the state of the research on Anatabloc."

The stock slumped, dropping 4 percent the next day.

'No one will return his calls'

Williams pushed for another Richmond event to promote Anatabloc, asking both McDonnells to attend.

The governor's chief of staff told the scheduler they needed to discuss the matter. Maureen McDonnell, meanwhile, asked the governor's lawyer and his press secretary to talk to Williams about it. The governor never showed at that October affair.

Undiscouraged, Williams kept trying to nail down state tobacco commission funding for clinical studies of Anatabloc.

But in February 2012 he told Maureen McDonnell he'd made no progress.

She fired off a note to the governor's lawyer, Eige: "Here's the info from Jonnie. He has calls in to VCU and UVA and no one will return his calls."

She emailed Eige again the next day: "Pls call Jonnie today get him to fill u in where this is at. Gov wants to know why nothing has developed with studies ... Gov wants to get this going w VCU MCV (Virginia Commonwealth University's Medical College of Virginia)."

A week later, Gov. McDonnell himself weighed in. "Pls see me about anatabloc issues at VCU and UVA," he emailed Eige.

"Will do," Eige responded. "We need to be careful with this issue."

Twelve days after that exchange, on Feb. 29, 2012, prosecutors allege, McDonnell and Williams were deep in difficult talks.

The two set up a 25 minute meeting that evening, supposedly to talk one on one about a reception at the governor's mansion for health care executives, according to one prosecution exhibit.

Williams had already won permission to name people — out-of-state doctors as well as himself — to the event, which was meant to honor Virginians who had helped McDonnell with his health care reform efforts.

But in fact, prosecutors allege, Williams and the governor talked about money.

McDonnell's venture with his sister into the Virginia Beach rental market, MoBo Real Estate, was foundering.

The prosecutor's evidence includes the governor's handwritten notes sketching out various ways Williams could help.

Under the heading "Deal 2-29-2012," the note elaborates: "Loan of 50K shares to Maureen, Value is $2.10. Repayment: 1)Return 50K shares or 2) repay Purchase at $2.20 Either within 4 years." The note continues on a second page: "Sell what we need ... could borrow against the stock or just sell them."

That evening, after the reception, the McDonnells joined Williams at a lavish dinner for a Washington-area doctor whose research had focused on thyroid disease. Williams wanted the doctor to run a clinical study on Anatabloc, one that could help establish it as an effective treatment.

In the end neither worked out.

The doctor never did study Anatabloc, and MoBo was still in a jam.

On March 6, 2012, Williams wrote a check to MoBo for $50,000.

On May 15, McDonnell text-messaged Williams: "Johnnie. Per voicemail would like to see if you could extend another 20k loan for this year. Call if possible and I'll ask mike to send instructions. Thx bob."

Twelve minutes later, Williams replied. "Done, tell me who to make it out to an address. Will FedEx. Jonnie."